Final Fantasy Flounders

   [Speaking of analytical articles (see earlier post about
    how I think modern reviews are superiour to the pabulum we
    used to get in 80s and 90s magazines), here's a positive
    example]

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/final-fantasys-sales-crisis-is-also-an-identity-crisis-opinion

So, Final Fantasy 16 came out to PC finally, and its sales --and
reception-- aren't quite what publisher Square Enix hoped. The article
tries to dissect why this is, and suggests that while part of the
reason is because it remain exclusive to PS5 for far too long, it may
also be due to the fact that Square Enix sees the Final Fantasy games
as their tent-pole franchise, and tries to build massive games that
appeal to everybody, rather than accepting that JRPG-style games are
somewhat niche and budgeting for that instead.

The fact that the various iterations of the franchise themselves have
little connection to each other --in setting and gameplay-- also mean
that each game is largely judged against its predecessors, which
doesn't allow Square to leverage the series' legacy. If you liked
FF15, you're likely to buy FF16; if you didn't, then you're less
likely. The fact that you enjoyed FF8 or 12 has little influence on
most people's decisions to buy the latest game because each game is so
different from the next.

All this seems reasonable to me, but I'm somewhat in a bind, since I
am most definitely _not_ a Final Fantasy fan to begin with. The games
have no appeal to me, so figuring out why people do or don't buy these
games has always been something of a mystery to me.

What do you think; does the Final Fantasy series have a future as a
tent-pole franchise for Square Enix, or should they perhaps
re-evaluate the direction (and scope) they are going with these games?